http://nourishedmagazine.com.au/blog/articles/where%e2%80%99s-my-center-a-closer-look-at-child-centered-parenting Wisdom to thrive by Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:34:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://nourishedmagazine.com.au/blog/articles/where%e2%80%99s-my-center-a-closer-look-at-child-centered-parenting#comment-10699 Lisa Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:59:10 +0000 http://nourishedmagazine.com.au/blog/articles/where%e2%80%99s-my-center-a-closer-look-at-child-centered-parenting#comment-10699 Jean Liedloff makes it sound so easy. Carry your baby, co-sleep, breastfeed on cue & they will be calm, obedient & independent. Ha! If only she'd had children herself I believe she would have futher deepened her understanding of human nature & the needs of children. Not that I disagree with the parenting practices she outlines I have practised them myself & believe they have made me a better parent than I would have been & enjoyed it more & certainly if I have another child I will do it again. However, as Scott points out there is a lot more to it. I realised early on when my partner returned to work, when our son was 2 weeks old, that if I did not talk to my son he would rarely hear a human voice. Which shows how isolating early motherhood is in our culture & certainly was for me. I feel sad thinking about it. I know for myself that the times I have consciously tried to be less child-centered there has been more conflict between my child & myself & I have enjoyed parenting less. This is a great article Scott & is an issue that I have struggled with how do we meet our baby/childs needs without making them the center of attention? It certainly takes a different way of being than is the norm in our culture & as you say maybe is not relevant in our culture but then maybe if that part of it is not relevant maybe none of it is????? Jean Liedloff makes it sound so easy. Carry your baby, co-sleep, breastfeed on cue & they will be calm, obedient & independent. Ha! If only she’d had children herself I believe she would have futher deepened her understanding of human nature & the needs of children. Not that I disagree with the parenting practices she outlines I have practised them myself & believe they have made me a better parent than I would have been & enjoyed it more & certainly if I have another child I will do it again. However, as Scott points out there is a lot more to it. I realised early on when my partner returned to work, when our son was 2 weeks old, that if I did not talk to my son he would rarely hear a human voice. Which shows how isolating early motherhood is in our culture & certainly was for me. I feel sad thinking about it. I know for myself that the times I have consciously tried to be less child-centered there has been more conflict between my child & myself & I have enjoyed parenting less. This is a great article Scott & is an issue that I have struggled with how do we meet our baby/childs needs without making them the center of attention? It certainly takes a different way of being than is the norm in our culture & as you say maybe is not relevant in our culture but then maybe if that part of it is not relevant maybe none of it is?????

]]> http://nourishedmagazine.com.au/blog/articles/where%e2%80%99s-my-center-a-closer-look-at-child-centered-parenting#comment-10695 Marie Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:30:56 +0000 http://nourishedmagazine.com.au/blog/articles/where%e2%80%99s-my-center-a-closer-look-at-child-centered-parenting#comment-10695 The two books that have influenced me most on changing my attitude to the way humans are meant to live are "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" and "The Continumm Concept". To me, they go hand in hand - nourishing the human body and spirit in the way we are meant to be. However, I have struggled to put TCC into practice because, like this article said, our lives in the developed world are nothing like the jungle. Do Yequana children have to learn to share? Are one of their first words "Mine"? So this article has been great in sorting out a few areas that I struggled with. Those negative thoughts.... The two books that have influenced me most on changing my attitude to the way humans are meant to live are “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” and “The Continumm Concept”. To me, they go hand in hand - nourishing the human body and spirit in the way we are meant to be. However, I have struggled to put TCC into practice because, like this article said, our lives in the developed world are nothing like the jungle. Do Yequana children have to learn to share? Are one of their first words “Mine”? So this article has been great in sorting out a few areas that I struggled with. Those negative thoughts….

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